#351: Success Panel: Learn Marketing Tips from Members of Christian Book Academy

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement.

As well as prayers to help you.

Overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

As we kick off Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and all of the days leading up to Christmas, this is a busy time. There's a lot going on. You're getting a lot of information bombarded at you and we want to make sure that you know what we have going on here and the specials that we have for you. So we have several things going on. We have a huge discount on our workshops that we've never offered before. We have our biggest sale of the year in our Book Marketing shop and then we also have an incredible deal for Christian Book Academy. So check out the description or the show notes below to get all the information about what is going on. But if you want to join Christian Book Academy, now is the time to join. We're going to be transitioning now that we have the Book Marketing Shop, we're going to be putting all of our monthly resources that we create for members into the shop after they've been released for a month. So each month CBA members, Christian Book Academy members will get a new mini Marketing messages kit, which is social media prompts, templates, email templates, a courageous writer collaboration idea, and that's to help save you time and to reach more readers with your message. And you can edit these, you can make it into your own voice. You get graphics as well as text, and you'll get a new one of these every month. You'll get a new CANVA template, something that you can use to market your books or even sometimes something you can use to create a PDF or a.

File that you can then sell.

And then you'll get a printable. So it's going to be a scripture printable that will have one scripture each month that will have a coloring page, lettering practice sheets, prayer journal, puzzle, and it's a whole package that you can then either sell or give away. We give you a new one of these every month in Christian Book Academy and we have a lot of these now for you. You can join today@christianbookacademy.com you'll get all of the core curriculum through our Kingdom Writers Path where we help you write, self publish and market your books. But you'll get all of these downloads. And so after this promotion is over next week we're going to be changing things. And each month you will get those new resources in the membership. But then after a month we're going to be taking them out of the membership and they will only be available in the shop. So this means if you join right now, you're going to get hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars of extra resources that you will not get if you join Christian Book Academy later. So now's the time to join. This episode is panel episode where you're going to get to hear from our members what they have been able to accomplish through Christian Book Academy. It can help you make a decision if this is the right time for you to join. And we can help you with every phase of the process with the writing, the publishing and the marketing. And so we look forward to working with you. And if you're ready to join us, go to ChristianBookAcademy.com I hope that you enjoy this episode. Listening to these case studies for from our members.

Welcome everyone to this success panel. My name is Shelly Hits and I'm here with several of our Christian Book Academy members, Doc and Tanisia and Esther. And we're just so excited to be here with you tonight. Let me just start with a prayer. It's always good to start with prayer. Amen. So God, thank you so much for what you're doing in and through our lives. Thank you for each of these Kingdom writers and the words that you are releasing to the world through their lives, through their books, through their blogs, through their writing and whatever they're doing, Lord, we just pray you bless them. We just ask that you would also just speak through our panel today and that you would just bring encouragement and practical tips and also just what whatever you have for each one of us that your Holy Spirit would speak to each one of us tonight. So we just pray this in Jesus powerful name. Amen. Awesome. Well, we are going to get started with Doc. We have Doc Frederick with us. And Doc, why don't you just introduce yourself briefly to the group.

Hi, my name is Doc Frederick. This doc is short for Darkina and I write nonfiction for Christian for Christian men, for men in general to help them live with victory and impact.

Yes. And we need that in our culture for sure. So thank you for all that you do. And you're going to talk a little bit about is the business card dead? So share with us what you mean by that.

Okay.

Well, thank you. So yes, is the business card dead? And I have several notes so I'm going to start the timer showing so I'll make sure I'm good.

Awesome.

But, you know, once you write a book, you need a way to get more readers. And most people.

First starting out will take advantage of free tools and resources. And a business card will cost a little bit of money. But that's one of the resources that, that I believe should, you know, all of us should pay for, you know, one of the things you should spend money on. And should the business card be one of the first things? I think it is. And is it possible for you to spend $30 on a box of 500 business cards and make dozens of new book sales as a result? Absolutely. It can absolutely happen. And if you do the math, you can get a box of business cards for about 30, $30 or so. 500 cars comes out to about 6 cents per card. So you can do the math on that. But if you're not using business cars or if you've been thinking about it, I hope that by the end of my presentation that you'll go about, go out and apply the things that I'll talk about today.

So a lot of great things can happen when you, when you have and carry around business cards, but when you don't, that's when you run into situations like what I faced before.

Some of you may not know that where you're out, you're talking to somebody, you meet somebody new, and somehow they seem like they could be a good fit for your book. And the topic comes up that you've written a book, you're an author, and the first question out of their mouth is, do you, what's, what's the title of your book? Do you have, do you have a business card? Or is there something I can write it on? And if, you know, like I've known, known, what happens is they reach in their wallet and they pull out a. Or their purse, they pull out an old receipt where it's faded and you write the title of your book on it. They ball it up. Who knows where it goes from there? But that's happened to me before. And I feel like I've missed opportunities to connect with people because of it.

But there's a better way. So something. After I've walked away from situations like that, I felt good and I felt excited about the fact that I've made a connection with somebody who would want to, you know, buy my book and read it. But something just kind of didn't feel right after leaving that. So I kind of examined it and asked myself what I could have done better in that situation.

So there is A different way that that scenario could. Could have panned out. So imagine that scenario where you're talking to somebody, but this time you actually have business cards. So you put a couple business cards in your pocket or your purse, and before you leave the house, you pray and you ask God to send you the right person to talk to. You meet that person, you hand them a business card. But not just any business card. You hand them what I like to call a book business card. Some of you have probably heard about that. A book business card is simply a card that looks just like the COVID of your book. And I have. I had one made after doing a little bit of research, and I thought it was kind of cool, because when you tell somebody about your book, not only do they get excited, but they get a chance to visually see what the book looks like. And if you have. If you invested a little bit of money into getting a cover design that really conveys the message of your book, that's going to compel them even more to want to purchase your book. So that's a really great, great thing.

And I talked about that a little bit about what a business card is, but it's going to have information about your book, about the author. You may even have a free resource or giveaway associated with that, and you may want to connect them with your social media or website. It is a great way to make an amazing first impression of your book in business and also to let people know that you're serious about your business as an author.

All right.

Now, I. I had a situation. Well, not a situation. I had last week. I was in my office, and I just felt like God said, go on a bike ride and put one business card in your pocket. And that was. That was kind of awesome. I was like, all right, God, I'm about to go on a bike ride, and I'm gonna put one business card in my pocket. And it was kind of. It was funny because I had this. I knew I was going to be speaking for this, and it was like, right. You know, a week before beforehand. And I rode around the block a few times, and I saw a young man going into his house, and I've seen him before and waved at him and spoke to him, but this time we actually stopped, we talked, and finds out he wants to join the military. He's really excited about that. And I have background in the military as well, so we're able to talk and let him know that I wrote a book and I had the one business card in my pocket. The book Business card. And right then and there he scanned the QR code on my, on my business card. He joined my email list, he got my free resource and he committed to purchasing the book. But he also walked away with the business card. So I immediately got an email subscriber and we exchanged phone numbers. So, you know, we have a connection. But there's been several men like that that I've been able to mentor and, and I have a feeling he'll be one of those. So that's just some of the great things that can happen when you do carry business cars and you're prayerful, prayerful about it and asking God to help you along the way. And despite the fact that we live in a highly digital age, I still believe that there is a place for the business card. Plus, I think it's the perfect way to start your, what I call your marketing mind, your marketing mindset to get that going, especially if you're first starting out.

And I believe that because.

With your business card, it's going to force you to do a few things. It's going to force you to think about design, how, you know, how is it, how's the business card be designed? Where are the fonts? Do you have a logo? Where are you going to send them to? You know, how can you convey what you do in a very short time, time frame and get your message across? All right, I know, I got it. I know. Probably wrap up here in about a minute, but.

It, it sure is a great way if you're, if you're not taking advantage of your business card. You know, definitely. And just in closing, the history of the business card shows that they were once used by royalty. And I'm not sure if you knew that, but kings and queens would announce their upcoming arrival to a region that they governed over. And they were once available mainly to those who were affluent and they were made of wood, stone and other expensive materials. And then shortly after that, you know, traders and merchants and what I call kingdom writers as well. I'm sure there's some kingdom writers in there and they got a hold of that concept and they started to use the business card concept to actually market their business as well.

And so God told us we're royalty, he's the soon coming king, and we are his business card declaring his message through our writing and creative works. Each business card printed represents one person that you interact with and have the chance to impact. So.

You can let me know where I'm at. Shelly. As far as Simon.

Yeah, I think that's Been great. There's been a lot of comments coming in through too. But I love how you say that said that we are God's business card, right?

Yes.

Well, preach. That's so good. And do you happen to have a picture of your business card with you? I don't know if you have one close by. Okay. Because I thought it'd be cool just for people to see, but you can actually, the business card is the perfect size for a book cover. And I've done that before too. And then several of you mentioned that you use bookmarks and that you have QR codes on there and ways for people to connect with you, buy your book. And so I think all of those are great ideas.

Do you find it? All right, let me.

So this is.

That's the business card and this is the book. It's got the same exact cover. Yeah, you see that as a book, but it has a call to action on top, the QR code on the bottom. Available on Amazon and it has a book cover. And on the back I have a you know about the author section and I have my social media handles for them to follow me as well as my website. So it makes it really clear on different ways they can connect with me.

Yeah, that's great. I love having practical pictures too, and examples because I know for me, sometimes I'm just like, oh, like, what do I even start with? Or how do I do it? Do you have a place that you recommend buying business cards or.

So I actually design my business cards on Canva and my wife, she made business cards as well for her business in Canva. Their quality turned out a little bit better than going to Office Depot for her. But hers was like, really cute and just, you know, it needed to just be really high quality. You know, mines were kind of on a white background. So if you're. If you've got something that needs a little bit more attention to detail and just needs to look, you know, really, really pretty and, you know, you probably can go with Canva for something like that, but they were pretty decent for a box of 200 cards.

Good. Yeah. Someone also mentioned Moo has great business cards. A couple people mentioned vistaprint. I. You can always get a coupon for them.

Yeah. But I just love that. And, you know, you've just been planting seeds along the way and selling books, you know, in. In a variety of ways. And your book is called 101 Things Every Man Should Know to Experience a Life of Victory and Impact. So if someone wants to connect with you and learn More about your book. How do they do that?

Yes. So they can connect with me either through instagram or at docfredrick or on my website at habits for growth.com/101 and that will take them directly to. To my book page. And they can also download my free resource guide that goes along with the book.

Yeah. And hey, this book might be a good Christmas gift for a man in your life. Right.

But along with the business card, I just want to tag this on before we head to. To Esther. But the other thing you can do is add an email signature. That's something all of you can do. Right. It's free and it go. You can have similar information that you have on your business card. But while you're creating your business card, if you do that, you know, also set up an email signature. And that way every email that goes out, it's just another seed being planted. Oh, someone else asked what size was your business card? It was a regular business card size.

It was. It was a regular business card size. Now, instead of doing it horizontal or horizontally, I actually did it vertically because I.

Right.

Better. Because it kind of went along with the COVID of my book a little bit better.

Yeah. All right, awesome. Well, thank you so much, Doc. I appreciate you and definitely connect with him. Get your. Get his book for any of the men that you have in your life. I'm excited to introduce to you another one of our Christian Book Academy members, Esther Espinosa. And she. She's coming to us from Australia. So, Esther, go ahead and introduce yourself.

Hi, everyone.

So I started in CBA in November last year, and since then I have sold over 500 of these little magazines for teen girls. And I also published my first book for teen girls. And I'll next month, in October, I'll be releasing two gratitude journals, one for little kids and one for teen girls, and a book series for. For girls. So it's really exciting. And I know that if I wasn't with cba, I wouldn't have done any of that, but just being accountable and having the support of Shelley and everybody in CBA is amazing.

Yeah. And I just wanted to say, you know, it's been so amazing watching Esther, because it's almost like you've just been blooming, Right. And, you know, it's just like sometimes it's just the time at the right place and just seeing all that God's doing in your life as you're just taking those steps of faith. And so Esther's going to share today, like, what's in your hand. And she's going to share a little bit about selling your books in bulk. So I'm just going to turn it over to you for a few minutes, Esther.

Okay. So in December last year, I had. I had boxes of these magazines I had for the teen girls, and I didn't know what to do with them. They were sitting there gathering dust, and I wanted to do more because the content is so good. It's got great articles on anxiety and just things that girls need. So, Shelley, one of the things is I don't like to sell. It's my nightmare. And I get nervous and I don't know how to tell people, you know, buy this, give me money for it. So one day I was listening to Shelly. I had just joined CBA only a few weeks, and she talked about, talk to God. What do you have in your hand? She said, what do you have in your hand? And she said to something like, when Moses had his staff, God had given him a stuff that he could, you know, in his hand. He had power in there. And Shelley continued to talk about business meetings with God. And that's just journaling anytime you want, maybe once a week, once a month. And just asking God, God, what do you want me to do with my book or with my magazine? So I did both, both of those. And I started praying about it. And when I was journaling and telling, you know, God all my frustrations on how I could sell this, he just said, you know, what about the magazines that you have in boxes downstairs? And. And I thought, yeah, that's.

That's true.

I do have that in my hand. So I prayed a bit more about it, and I thought, okay, time to execute, and God is leading this way, so I've got to do something about it, even if I'm afraid. So I started by researching churches that I had visited around my community in Brisbane and made a list. I made a list of at least 30 places and the pastors that were in charge of the church. And I emailed them. I converted a few pages of the magazine into a little PDF for them to have a look. And I also put in what age group it was. I've told them what he had inside and how it was going to benefit the girls, because I thought that was very important. And when it came to the pricing, I didn't tell them, you know, this is one. One magazine is just, say, $10. Instead, I gave them three options because I wanted to make it easy for them. So I said, 20 magazines cost this much, 50. This much and 100, this much. And I thought that was a lot easier and easier me as well to deal with. So in. In about a week or even less, I had pastors responding and saying, look, can I order this for my church for the teen girls? And a lot of the orders were 20 magazines and 50s. And that was amazing. Like, I think I did a happy dance on the spot thinking, yeah, God was on to something when he asked me to do this. So one of the things that I can say is, if you want to sell in bulk, if you want to sell your books in bulk, is pray about it. And like Shelly says, make inventory of what you have. What do you have in your hand, what can you get a lot of, and be able to distribute easily. The other thing that I find that's really helpful is going to events. Events are really amazing for me. I go to a lot of women's conferences and I ask for a booth. And a lot of the time the booth is like $25 or even free. And then during the break, women come and they buy magazines and books. And it's one of the best ways to sell in bulk. The other thing is when you have your book that you want to sell, make a list of the organization or the leaders that you want to approach and think, who is this book good for? Who is it going to benefit? And then write your letter and make it very simple. State what your book stands for, who it's for, the age group, how it's going to benefit the girls or the women or the men, and also give them maybe three prices and then a clear instruction on how they can contact you straight away and maybe even a limit of, you know, this offer is only available for the month of December, for Christmas or something like that, so that they can kind of hurry because they tend to be busy and forget.

And the other thing is, if you haven't heard from the person you contacted in about four weeks, then follow up, because I did that and they had just forgotten. I just said, oh, that was on my mind, but I had forgotten to get back to you. And you can do this reaching out every quarter. I don't like. Like I said, selling so quarterly for me works well to do a little letter and send it out to different places or look up events that are coming and then see if I can go to that. So that's. That's another thing. But. But the best thing that I could say is pray about it. Ask God to inventory. Do your business meeting, which is journaling with him, so that he can lead. Because I know that this little magazine has helped so many people, so many teen girls, and we get great feedback from that. So, yeah, so it's been amazing.

Yeah, that's so great. You really gave a lot of practical things as well. I love that. You know, because it was in the beginning you said, you know, you create a few pa. And I wrote in the comments, it's like you created your own little look inside feature. Right. You know, on Amazon, you could do a look inside and you really focused on the benefits. And then you gave them a few options, but not too many. You know, a confused mind says no, but you gave them. How many options was it?

3.

3.

So 3 is usually a pretty good number of options to give them. And then you took the step of faith.

Were you nervous?

Like, was your heart pounding?

I was dying the whole time. It's not my strength. And I remember there was a lady that, she's our women ministry leader and she. I emailed her. This was a separate one from the pastors. And I emailed her and I told her about it and she, she was amazing. She said, oh, I love it. Can you send me 100 straight on the go? And I'm thinking I wouldn't have reached out. You know, I was so afraid if I wouldn't have reached out, I would. 100 girls wouldn't be benefiting from the magazine and we wouldn't have had more money to be able to print more and continue the ministry. So it's just amazing how God just opened doors. And I think the thing that steps in, that steps in the way for us or the blocks us is the fear as well as ourselves, because we think all these stories in our minds and some of them don't even come true.

Yeah, yeah. And there's some comments over on Facebook too. And Parker J. Cole was like, you know, I think most authors are like that where they don't like the selling part. Right. But, you know, it's, you know, it means something when you take that step and you say, okay, God, I'm gonna do this because you've given me the. This message. I'm going to ask you for wisdom, and then I'm going to take that step of faith. Faith without action is dead. And so we're so excited for you and I cannot wait to see what's next.

How can people get in touch with.

You if they want to purchase your book or get in contact with you otherwise?

So the place to go, I think the website, you can send an email. It's gigi storylibrary.com and then just say hi or on Amazon you can find this book for teen girls. It's called you sell the secret of the locket and you can. It's a great book for teen girls that you can look up app for on Amazon.

Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing and we just pray that God uses you in so many more ways to reach girls lives.

Thank you.

Tunisia Mitchell is another one of our Christian Book Academy members. And so Tanisia, why don't you introduce yourself and just share for a minute or two, Share about your book and about yourself.

Sure. Thank you so much for the opportunity to participate today. And hello everyone. I am Tunisia Mitchell. I am really thrilled to be here and for a living. I am a scientist by day and I'm very passionate about writing. So I do a lot of grant writing and writing comes very easy to me in some ways, I guess it's a gift.

I'm also a published author and have published one book called Renew the Inner you. And the purpose of the book is to help people deal with negative thoughts and emotions so that they can have positive responses that align with God's heart. And I've been a member of CBA for a year and I published my book, I think, in December of last year. And I was able to really execute and publish the book because I was a member of cba. For those of you who are considering to join the academy, it is worth it. And I don't ever see myself not being a part of it because I have more books to write, of course. But most importantly, there's so many great people here that offer their advice and their experiences. And it's just a great community to learn from so many different people instead of trying to reinvent the wheel or Google or.

Maybe even ask a friend that you know who's already published for advice and they're like, yeah, just, you know, it's easy, you know, just you'll figure it out. You're like, that's not what you're going to get here. So you'll have direct answers as well as support. And most importantly, people that are also believers, so they have the same mindset and desire and heart to please God. So that's a quick overview of me and my experience with CBA so far.

Yeah. And I'm so excited to have you share a little bit more about your experience so far. This is your first book and you know, a lot of times we test track and tweak.

Right.

It's all an experiment, but you've had, you know, some success so far. And so I'm going to go ahead and let you just share a little bit. And Tanisia is going to share. No more comfort zones, practical tips to get people to read your book. So I'm going to let you go ahead and share for a few minutes.

Thank you so much. So what I really want to start with is just something I believe God wanted me to remind us about is when we have these books or journals or whatever we're working towards to publish, he says that that's just a gift. So it's a pleasure and an honor for God to choose us. And I think it's important to kind of keep this in the mind, in our. In the front of our mindset as we're going through the process of publishing books and writing. And even if you're doing, you know, multiple books and you're used to the process, it's still important to remember that he's chosen you to be the vessel that he uses to give this particular book or item, essentially a gift to the world. And so when you think about that, that helps you keep the perspective of that it's not about us, but it's about him so that he can be glorified. And it helps you, at least in my mind, it helps me try to push past those moments of fear that Esther was just referring to as an author. So we have a message that we want to get out, and it's sometimes very easy to type it out and sit behind a computer and just say, yeah, this is great. And maybe it's a struggle. I don't know, maybe you have it where you use these devices where you're not really ready to write, but you can just speak to the software and it types it out for you. Whatever the process may be, what I'm trying to communicate is that it's very easy. I'm going to speak from my perspective, and maybe you can relate or not, but I'm going to just say how I feel. It's very easy for me to be in my little bubble.

What I've learned through this process is that the bubble is not, although it's safe for us, it's not what God requires. It's because he wants to unveil us. Right as Dak was talking about us being royalty, that has to be displayed, but it can't be displayed if we keep everything hidden in the bubble. And so what I have found through this process is I had to push through my comfort zone. And so the way that I was able to do this is because I had to have those business meetings with God and he had to remind me, you know, who I am in Him. And as a result, he also reminded me about just knowing that I've been prepared for this moment. So a lot of times there's this uncertainty of, okay, well, I published a book, or I have this idea, I have a title, I don't know how to edit it, or I don't know how to market it. And that can be kind of some steps of delay. But you have to just remember that you're not doing it by yourself. And also the Holy Spirit is right there with you to really execute this particular task that he's asked you to do, because he knows that you can do it and he's chosen you to do it. So that's the first thing I wanted to do, is just kind of make. Remind us that our mind shift. Our mind has to be settled in that place, knowing that we're not doing it by ourselves. Regardless how many books we have published, there's still new chapters and new aspects that we're going to have to embark on that we never experienced before. So I really just think before we can even talk about practical steps or tips, we want to just make sure that our mind is aligned with what God is saying. And so that's what I really think that he wanted me to share first. And then another thing that he wanted me to share was just the word marketing. And so when I hear marketing, I'm like, oh, gosh, it's selling. I don't want to do it. I don't want to do it. I don't want to do it. And he just told me, like, just what does marketing mean? And so I'm going to read the definition of marketing. And marketing means the provision of goods or services to meet customer or consumer needs. Marketing is the provision of goods or services to meet customer or consumer needs. So when we're marketing our books, we have to remember that we're meeting a need. We're meeting a need. We're also providing a gift gift. And some people might want the gift. You know, if you think about when the holiday season is coming and we were thinking about a gift we want to give for someone or to someone, they might like it or they might not. But the point is we're giving a gift, and we can't be concerned about whether or not they like the gift or not. We just have to give the gift. And so I kind of equate that to the book and, you know, our gifts. Our books are gifts. And so let's talk a little bit about these practical tips to market. We want to first ask God to strategize and how to push past any insecurities that we might have, because this is a process that will expose some of the insecurities we might experience or we might feel like we're not adequate. So God will communicate to us and encourage us to know that we're able to carry out what he's asking us to do. So, so I'm able to. I've been able to get the strategy I needed by having those business meetings. And I have a personal journal that I talk to God and I write out those prayers and I ask him, what do you want me to do this week? How should I do this? And, you know, and he'll give me something and I'll be honest and say, yeah, I don't really want to do that. Maybe that's just my experience. I don't know. But lastly, you know, I don't know. So, yeah, I have those business meetings and then I try to execute and be creative and I ask God for creative strategies. And I really rely on social media and word of mouth to get my book out. So I use all kinds of ideas and I try not to directly say, hey, buy this book because it will change your life. Now, is that the truth? Yes. But I can't say it that way. That's selling, right? So I just ask God for strategies and he gives me creative ideas to make posts, maybe use even songs that are not even Christian or, you know, gospel songs. I use all kinds of lyrics because words can carry the message that I'm trying to get across to make sure I reach the audience that I'm trying to reach. And so I don't limit myself or try to put myself in a box. And so I find that when I do that, it reaches people and it doesn't come across as selling. Another practical tip that I would recommend is to also be patient with yourself in this process, because God can provide grace, but sometimes we're not so gracious to ourselves. And so I would recommend that you intentionally, you know, maybe once a week when you're having those business meetings, make a confession that I will be patient with myself during this week. I will give myself grace as I continue to sell or market my book, as I continue to give and share my book as a gift to the world. And then I think the last thing I was just going to say is once you have Those books published. You can also rely on reviews, word of mouth of people to really get others to know about your book. And so one thing that I use is reels and direct. I ask directly, can you write a review or rating or give me a rating on my book if you found that it's helpful? I don't tell people what to write or what rating to give. And so far I found that to be very effective. I feel like I'm going a little bit over time.

Oh, you're fine. Yeah. So how many reviews do you have now?

I have 25 now. Yeah, so I had 24. That was five out of five stars. And I'm going to be a little bit more transparent too, that I just got a review that was one out of five. And I'm gonna be honest with you, I was like, you know what? I don't like that. I really don't like that. But then none of us do. I had to remind myself, who did you do this for? This you have an audience of one Tanisia. And I told myself that over and over again. An audience of one. If God is pleased, then I can't worry about what anyone else thinks. And it kind of goes back to that gift. You know, that analogy that the Lord gave me was that, you know, you're giving a gift, if they want it, they'll accept it. If they don't, then it's okay. But you've done what I've asked you to do. So that keeps me. That keeps me happy, that keeps me settled and ready to move forward because I still have to complete the assignment that was given to me.

Yeah. And you know, any, any of us that have been authors for a while, we know we could probably remember our first one star review. You know, it's like, it hurts. And yet every author, every successful author has, you know, five star reviews. They also have some one or two star reviews. And yet I just love the fact that you have just simply asked like, I mean, you had a very, like, grassroots marketing effort. You've had a couple speaking engagements, you've, you know, done some book signings and really, you know, taken advantage of your local community, but just have simply asked at times for people to post a review. And now it's continuing to grow. And so that is an important part of marketing because that social proof does help sell books. And so how would people get ahold of you or how would they get your book if they're interested in finding out more?

Sure. I have a copy of my book here. So this is my book called Renew the Inner U and I actually made the COVID myself, so it's really cute to me. Yeah. My book's on Amazon.com but I have a website, it's Tanisha Mitchell dot com. It's my first and last name. T A N E C I A M I T C H E L L dot com.

Awesome. You know, I would love for all of you just to share real quick and then we're going to go to some Q and A. We already have some questions coming in, but Tanisia kind of shared a little bit about Christian Book Academy. But if there's anyone listening or watching right now that's considering joining the membership, what would you say to them? Tanisia, why don't you share first?

I would say if you're considering to join the Academy, it's worth the investment. If you want to make sure that you have a community of support, this is a place for you. I would also say that you won't have to waste time googling and trying to figure out.

And that it's just a great place, a great community and you're going to be guaranteed to get your book published if you follow the modules, ask questions, be vulnerable, share your book covers, whatever you want to share and get feedback on. This is a great place to do it. It's a safe place. That's the best way I would describe it. Yeah, it's a safe place.

Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing. And Esther, what would you say to someone who's considering joining Christian Book Academy?

Give it a go. You have nothing to lose. It's an amazing community.

The price, I think it's. I mean, here in Australia it's almost $60, but it's less over there. But I think it's everything we get. The value is amazing. Shelley has.

Mantra motto. I don't know how to say it, but it's no question goes unanswered. There is a weekly section where we can put our questions and we get questions like I get stuck and I'm like, oh, Shelly, I need you. I can't find those answers on Google or wherever I need them. I need someone who knows what they're doing. And just, just this week, I think every week I have a question, but it's answered no matter if he. It's the next day, in a few minutes. It's amazing. And the other thing that I would say is the library where the modules are so easy to follow. I had never done a book in my life before and with the modules there's, like, the first draft, and then when you finish all that module, all those videos, you go to the next one and the next one. But all of those are so important because you follow step by step on how your book is supposed to look. There are editors that we can. Can book so they can edit our books. There are names of places where we can get our covers done. Formatters just. And even in the CBA community, there are people who can do all that. And it's. It's amazing. Like, I would say, go for it. Give it a try. Give it. Don't just do one month. Give it a good three months at least. Because I found that three months for me were great, and I was just eating all those modules one after the other after the other, but they were excellent. And then at the end, I was able to have my book, and I didn't even realize that I cover. Cover for a book was like, that's the COVID The whole thing. I thought it was just this. Yeah, I learned so much. And it's. Yeah, it's amazing.

Yeah, it's. You know, it's amazing what we learn. You know, we all start somewhere. And so I love how, like, you're just, you know, in there and asking questions. Doc ask questions, Tanisia, you know, and you just. You get involved. And those that are getting involved and asking the questions are the ones that tend to be moving forward even the most. And so I love that, Esther, and I love that we're a worldwide community. You know, people from, you know, the UK and Australia and South Africa and all over. You know, we have people from all over, so love having you part of the community. And. Doc, did you want to share just a minute?

Yes. So I will admit I was a little bit hesitant initially to join Christian Book Academy, not because I didn't think it would help me. I absolutely knew it could because I've listened to the podcast for. For a couple years before I even did. But my biggest concern was the overwhelm, because I've done training and done different things before, and you walk away from it and it's like, okay, I have this long list of stuff that's cool. You know, that's. That I should do, or that's really cool to do. But then when it comes to the part as far as, like, actually applying it or you have questions about it, like, that part is what I was hesitant about. But that's not been the case at all with Christian Book Academy. I mean, I have questions all the time, and sometimes I'm sitting there, I'm like, okay, how do I do this? I'm about to start a podcast. And then I'll be like, oh, you know what, let me check Christian Book Academy. And then I'll check in a module every. There's never been a question that I've ever had that I've gone that I haven't been able to get answered just from the module. So. And then, and then there's been a lot of extra, extra things that I didn't expect. Like, you know, there's an encouragement series where you. There's, you know, several Bible study type.

Modules where you're getting encouraged and just learning so much. So it's been a very big blessing to me personally. There's been, I've been. Had a revival in my life a few months ago from just doing one of the modules. So it's, it's a, an excellent program and I would, I would highly recommend it to anyone. Anyone.

Yeah.

Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing. And Doc was talking about our Kingdom foundations module and there's a whole workshop in there on how to hear God's voice. And I think Doc shared a neat vision that got a given you right? And just some different things that happen as a result of just going through that training. And it's like, you don't always expect that from a writer's community. Right? But that's what we're about, the whole person. Thank you. Thank you, Doc. Thank you, Tanisia and Esther, for, for being here tonight, for sharing part of your story. And we all have a story, right? We all have a path that we're on as Kingdom writers, and it's just encouraging many times to hear each other's stories. So thank you all for being here and thank you everyone that's joined us live as well, and we will see you next time.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy, where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom Writers.